Books and the silver screen...

[fajrdrako]

From Booking Through Thursday:
1. In your opinion, what is the best translation of a book to a movie?
2. The worst?
3. Had you read the book before seeing the movie, and did that make a difference? (Personally, all other things being equal, I usually prefer whichever I was introduced to first.)

My answers...

1. The best translation of a book to a movie is the Peter Jackson version of The Lord of the Rings. Not the most faithful, and certainly not unflawed, but exactly what a movie adaptation should be - a faithful reflection of what is significant about the books, with the spirit of the story and the characters as they should be. Given the many challenges of these books, it's an amazing achievement.
   
   If I am allowed a secondary answer, I'd also point to the Timothy Dalton version of Jane Eyre. And a third citation: To Kill a Mockingbird.
   
   A special category here must be Sin City and 300 by Frank Miller - both movies amazingly true to the original graphic novels.



2. The Man Without A Face. This was based on a novel I loved by Isabelle Holland, about the friendship between a troubled schoolboy and a teacher who had been disgraced by scandal stemming from the fact that he was gay, and had once had an affair with one of his students. The movie was made by Mel Gibson, and the teacher was not gay, and was wrongfully accused. Different theme entirely. Faugh.



3. I'd read all of these books before seeing the movies, which is generally my pattern; I tend to read more than I see movies. All these books were favourites. Sometimes favourite movies are based on plays. (I'm thinking here of The Lion in Winter and Becket - and I suppose I could throw in Much Ado About Nothing in this category.)
   
   If I disliked a book, would I be likely to see the movie? Probably not, though it doesn't necessarily work that way. I disliked the novel The Bourne Identity and liked the movie. I will quite possibly go to see The Golden Compass even though I didn't like the book at all, and The Dark is Rising (because of Christopher Eccleston) even though I didn't like the book much. I didn't like the book The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and then, on seeing the movie, didn't like it either.
   
   This makes it sound as if I don't like juvenile fantasy - not true! I do! I love the works of E. Nesbit, Diana Wynne Jones, J.K. Rowling and Edward Eager.

And that makes me think of all the books I wish they would make into good movies, but which they haven't done at all - the above, of course, and also the works of Georgette Heyer, Amanda Quick, Susan Elizabeth Philips, Jo Beverley, Mary Renault, Dick Francis, Steven Saylor, Greg Rucka, Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich and Lindsay Davis. And I'd love to see remakes of movies based on authors like Samuel Shellabarger and Raphael Sabitini.

Sometimes I think my taste is really out of step with Hollywood. Other times, I know it is.